Nothing much new to report today - the Senate is still busy preparing at least three maps, and according to Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst, they probably won't have anything until next week. It's beginning to become possible that the clock could be a factor here. Not only is there the matter of the "Death Star" government reorganization bill and House Bill 54 (which lets the Governor keep budget drafts secret) to consider - Hope has praise for the former and jeers for the latter; her permalinks are screwy, so scroll down to "HB 54 Stinks" and "More Power To Ya" - there's also a national conference of state legislators July 21-25 in San Francisco which quite a few of our best and brightest have signed up for. I'm not saying they're under pressure yet, but I daresay this has taken longer than Governor Goodhair first thought it would.

The news today is about a lawyer named Andy Taylor, who is currently representing Texans for a Republican Majority (TRM) and the Texas Association of Business (TAB) in both civil and criminal suits stemming from last year's election and who has been tapped by the Attorney General to represent the state when the inevitable anti-redistricting lawsuits are filed. Dave McNeeley outlines Taylor's history, while the Chron profiles him, as two amendments to the House redistricting bill that would have limited his involvement failed on party-line votes.

I'm not going to spend too much time on this, because I can't quite work up a froth over it. Yeah, it's awfully incestuous, and borderline sleazy, but I can't see a conflict of interest with what's been presented so far. Taylor's in the right place at the right time to get on this particular gravy train, and that's just the way it goes sometimes. If there's any justice, the Senate will fail to pass a map so there'll be no lawsuit for him to defend against at four hundred clams an hour.

UPDATE: A fellow named Quancuvo left an interesting comment about the cost of redistricting and the special session. His estimate if a bill goes through: $10 million. Something to think about, no?